Video Transcript: Noting Evangelism Myths

I read some time ago that we are what we think about all day long. That's kind of a scary thought. You look back - "What have I spent most of my time thinking about." I want to tell you that by this point in my life and at my age, I mostly think about where people are. It's the goal in my life to find out the spiritual location of every person that I meet, and I work around to that, and I work around to that, because I know that they're going to spend eternity somewhere, and I want them to spend it with Jesus. We have to pray for Jesus' heart. He came for only one reason - to seek and to save those who were lost. Today's topic, we're going to talk about evangelism myths. We note them. We don't believe them. Sometimes they get hold of us and we do, but we're not going to believe them. We're just going to be aware of them. Because when we're aware of the enemy, we can defeat it. So, let's pray and then, move on.

Dear Jesus, that wicked enemy of yours, satan, tries to slow us down by giving us some high-sounding untruths to keep us from being passionate about doing your work. We're going to understand them, and we're going to reject them on the basis of your Word. Thank you so much for showing us the truth. With you, we want the whole world to be saved. We want your heart. We love you. Amen.

First, again, we're going to talk about the thoughtless concept. This is the last time, but I want you to remember it. It's about the lady who had such caring, gentle children, and when I complemented her about them, she said, "And they do it so thoughtlessly."

And as I thought about it later, I thought, "That's what I want to be. I want to be a thoughtless Christian." 

And as we talk about it in this course, I want us to be thoughtless vocal witnesses. It just comes out like they said in the Book of Acts, those untrained and ignorant persons. They said, "We can't help but speak about it." 

And people said, "Why is that?"

And then, it says, "And then, they took note of them, that they had been with the Lord."

We talked in our last part about following him, about having to know him, having to obey him and having to trust him. Then, it becomes thoughtless for us. So, we want to look at some evangelism myths. 

Here's myth number one. Most churches are committed to evangelism. That's a myth. Look at your own church. Where is the majority of the money going? How is your church organized? Is it organized around keeping the people in church happy? Or is it organized around reaching out to others? What is talked about at your church in terms of organization? When are the services held? What does the building look like? What kind of programs do you have inside? 

Or does your church have a mission statement? Do you know it? Is it so long that you can't possibly remember it? Or is it short and snappy about reaching out and bringing in the lost people? What is your mission statement? And what are the results of outreach in your church, what we call evangelism. Finally, I use that word, because that's what they are. There are no myths about evangeliving. But about a theory and about a doctrine, there is lots of myth. What are the results of evangelism in your church? Really. How many have come in? 

And what are the conversations going on around your church? Do you hear people talking about having been a vocal witness? When you go to meetings like a men's meeting or a women's meeting or a Sunday school class or a doctrine class or a baptism class, are they talking about reaching out? What do you hear? And what impact has your church had in your area in terms of bringing lost people to Christ? Take a good inventory. Is your church committed to evangelism? Jesus was. That was his whole life? And the church is his body. 

Jesus said, "I have come to seek and to save those who are lost." If they put that on a sign out in front of your church, would that be true. "This church exists to seek and to save those who are lost." If yes, God bless you. What is your part in it? How are you advancing that? How are you encouraging those who are in positions of leadership and saying, "Thank you." This is the way we have to be. This is what Jesus wants. And if not, what will you do in your church? How are you going to proceed to get that whole body tied in to being workers in the harvest for Jesus? Myth number one, most churches are committed to evangelism. 

Myth number two, churches are aggressively preparing people for evangelism. The word there is aggressive. Does this stuff that we've been talking about sound familiar? Have there been times you've said, "Yeah, I know that. Yeah, I heard about that. Yeah, that's true. He's just overemphasizing or repeating"? Does it sound familiar, because you were taught that in your church? You say, "Yep, I know that. And I'm doing it." 

And what about training? How much training is going on in your church so that people will be workers in the harvest? Take a look around. And what percentage of the members in your church were brought in who had not been believers before? Do you know that 80% of church growth in America comes from transfer membership? What about where you live? What about in your church? What percentage of your church can raise their hand and say, "I was saved through the ministry of this congregation"? And then, what examples do you see? How often is there someone on the platform in front, giving a story of how the pastor or an elder or one of the deacons or a businessman or one of the kids in high school gave a vocal testimony and they believed it? 

How often do you hear testimonies of people, not only on the platform, but in meetings, saying, "Two years ago, before I was saved," or, "Thirteen years ago, when I came to the Lord, then this happened"? 

How many baptisms are happening in your church? And when people are baptized, are they told that the reason they belong to Jesus is so that they can go out and represent him? Let's just put it this way. What kind of excitement is there in your church to reach out and bring others to Christ? Is it talked about? Can you smell it when you go in church? "This is what we're about. We exist in order to bring lost persons to full life in Christ." If that's there, once again, you are blessed. You are in a church. That is the way Jesus wants it to be his body. But if not, once again, what are you going to do? You know this material. You know what he has said. He wants the world saved, and there are people around your church. That's fine if some go to missions far away. But right around your house, right around your church, there are people who have to be brought home. What are you going to do about it in your church? 

The third myth is most people become believers through evangelistic preaching. That just simply isn't true. Before I worked on this course, before the Lord touched my heart to reach out for him, I would say for the last 30 years, I've studied statistics. And one statistic has stayed constant year after year after year. Most people-- 85% to 95% of the people who are saved and become church members do so because they were personally contacted by another believer. Right around 8% come because of a certain pastor. But the far majority come because they've been brought by somebody. 

We hear about the great crusades - Billy Graham and all the rest. And we hear about 10,000 saved or 3,000 or 500 or 700. Do you know what? Your church could actually win more people to Christ than any of those crusades ever did. You reach one with Jesus, and the two of you reach two others. Now, you've got four. Those four reach four others. Now, you've got eight. And it just goes exponentially. That's the power of the Word. That's why it's so essential that we have individual believers. 

And anyway, what's happened to the big crusades today? Maybe that day is past. Maybe filling stadiums with thousands and thousands of people, many of whom are already Christians, maybe that day is passing by and we're getting back to the necessity of one-on-one testimonies. 

Afterall, what was the early church? No big crusades. No big evangelistic tours. One believer at a time speaking to another person and bringing that person home to Christ. 

I saw a sign in the men's shop. One man tells another, "That's all." And that's the way it is with our vocal witness. One woman tells another woman. One student tells another student. One person tells another person. Most people become believers through personal contact.

We have a church and our goal is to reach out and to bring lost persons to full life in Christ. That's our mission statement. And when I led the new member classes every month - 15, 20, 30 people in those classes - I would always give an evaluation at the end of the weekend. And the last question was, "How did you come to our church?" It was the same thing - almost 90% would always say, "My sister," "My mother," "My spouse," "My daughter," "A fellow student." 

Somebody wrote and said, "I was at work and I saw what somebody had, and I wanted what he had. So, I came here." Isn't that something? Most people become believers through one-on-one contact. 

Here's another myth that we talk about, and that is myth number four. To find new Christians, go to the fastest growing churches. 

 That is hard to believe that it's a myth, isn't it? You see churches almost in every community - big beautiful buildings, excitement, big parking lots, people out there parking cars, all sorts of people going in, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000. There's life in there. There's vibrancy. You say, "Look at this. The Bible is alive here. People are being brought in." But do you know what? Most growth comes through transfer. It's because so many Christians are looking for a bump. So many Christians are looking for spice. So many Christians are looking for excitement, and they don't find it in their own church. 

And then, other Christians tell them, "We stopped over there last weekend. It was really exciting." And so, there they go. Most churches grow by transfer growth. How about your church? Why don't you do a survey? It might be hard. But do it. Do a survey of all those who are there. "What is your church background? Were you saved before you came here? Were you led to the Lord during a message here? Did someone from this congregation lead you to the Lord?" Ask those questions. They're hard questions. And the results might surprise you. It’s myth to find that fastest growing churches grow because they're all new Christians. 

Take a good look at your church. How many from you are there? Maybe that would be the toughest question of all. When you look around in church, you say, "Well, our church is this size. We're only 89 members," or, "We're 250 members," or, "We're 500." And as I look around, who is here because I brought them? Who is here because I was a vocal witness? How many who were baptized last year were baptized because I testified to them? Can you do that? Can you do that next week when you go to your church? 

Take this question along. Write it down. How many are here because of me? That is so crucial. That's tough, but important. 

And then, myth number five - the typical church is committed to individual conversions. Oh, yeah. Every church is, right?  Wrong. Part of it is that people are not prepared. One of the things that really amazes me is with fellow pastors. There are pastors who have spent their whole ministry and never clearly led one person to new life in Christ. That just amazes me. The typical church is committed to individual conversions. I've heard some pastors, I've heard some elders talk with people who aren't saved, and I'm waiting for them to lead them home. And they get in discussions, they talk about other things, they get sidetracked. Remember, we studied about listening. And they never get to bringing them home to Christ. It's just amazing. 

In fact, there was a pastor here in America named Dr. D. James Kennedy, and he had a program, in his church, of outreach. And they reached out and they brought people to the Lord. And so, they began to have pastors' conferences to teach pastors how to bring people to the Lord. Why do we have to do that? 

Bu they had these conferences, and hundreds and thousands of pastors would go to learn how to bring lost people to Christ. And he said once over 30% of the people who came, the pastors were, themselves, not saved. So, where are you? You don't have to be a pastor. Just a daily worker, the way Jesus called us. Are you there? Are you able to lead someone to Christ?

The myth is that it comes through individual conversion. That's just not true. And we have to change that. So, I'm asking you, what are you doing in order to change that in your church? What are you planning to do? What is your prayer life about it? Jesus was so committed - totally committed - to his death to get people saved. How about ourselves? 

All of these myths stand against a book that was written 40 years ago or so. But it was so true. I'm sorry it's not around anymore. If you could ever find an old copy, get it. It was called The Gospel Blimp. And it's a story of these people in a nice church like your church and my church who really wanted to reach lost people. And so, they got together and they talked about their neighbors and the way they lived and about their sin and all of that. And they said, "How can we win them for Christ?"

They never talked about going and talking with them. So, they had this plan and they got a blimp and it was going to fly over the city, and they were going to drop tracts down explaining how to be saved. Isn't that a great story? So, they got the blimp and they then, they had to have a hangar, and then, they got busy taking care of the hangar - keeping it clean and planting flowers around the hangar and all of that kind of stuff. But they never had time to go to talk to their neighbor. 

And one day, the neighbor comes over, and he talks about being saved. And they said, "How did that happen? Was it from one of the tracts?"

They said, "I wondered what that crazy stuff was. My neighbor over there, he took me playing golf and then, we went to his house for barbecues, and I got to know him and I liked the way he lived. And I wanted to be like him." Are you willing to be that? Are you willing to do that? 

Jesus was so committed. Do we have his heart? Those myths will tie us down so that we'll never get out and do it. But we must. He calls us with the truth - vocal witnesses for him.